I thought my project was a great idea, but it turned out that not everyone else did. Sgt. Felty with the Allen Police Department was very enthusiastic about the idea. He needed a library that was multipurpose not just for books but also to hold their brochures. He gave his verbal approval in October and in November I was able to get it official. But getting other locations took much longer.
My family drove me around to scout locations. I then researched who to contact. I made a folder with information for each person I planned to meet. Each folder had pages about who I was, what an Eagle project is and information and sample pictures of Little Free Libraries. I couldn’t believe how many people I had to talk to and how many said “no”. I contacted multiple churches, the Fire Department, library, parks department, food banks, businesses and HOAs. It often took multiple contacts to get to the final decision maker. It seemed they were concerned about vandalism or that I might install something junky or ugly or poor quality, even if they did not say that right out. Weeks were turning into months. So that is why I decided to buy the libraries already built directly from Little Free Library (except for the Allen PD) and enroll my mom to help design and paint them. They had to be high quality and beautiful.
It was so exciting when I got a “yes”. The Allen school district was the next “yes”. Although the district administrators gave the approval, I needed to meet with each school principal to pitch my idea and get their input for books they wanted and ideas for the design of their library. And as it turned out, there was one level of approval I missed. (I have page just for obstacles.)
St. Jude Catholic Church and Villages at Maxwell Creek gave their approval and I was up to six (6) libraries.
I set up my fundraising pages on RedBasket and GoFundMe. I made wish lists on Barnes and Noble and Amazon for books.
To get information out about my project, I made business cards with my contact information and my fundraising links. I made posts on Nextdoor.com, my mom made posts on Facebook page and LinkedIn. I made announcements at troop meetings. I gave a little summary at a Dallas Electric Club meeting that I attended with my dad. I sent an email to family and other family contacts.
Fundraising was going fine and people were starting to donate books so I placed my order for the libraries but decided that but buying the the posts as well from Little Free Library was out of my budget. I watched videos on the post requirements and I decided that we could build nice, strong posts ourselves.
Scout friends and family assisted me in painting, assembling, and installing the libraries at the locations. I also received donations of new and used books and used donated money to purchase new books for the libraries. I have placed over 500 books in the libraries. A sticker is placed in each book indicating that it was donated to this Eagle Project.
To fund my Eagle Scout project, I raised funds via RedBasket.org and GoFundMe to pay for the libraries and Lowes’ donated some of the materials needed. My mom donated paint and advice and detail work on the murals.
Residents and community members are able to continually donate new and gently used books by putting them in the library box for kids and youth to take and read.
Funding
Click here for more details about funding and donations.
Obstacles
Info on a couple of road blocks
Links
Links to websites related to this project and me.
“Literacy and reading are probably the most important cornerstones for building a successful life.”